Ufology Research

Monday, September 30, 2013

What the air traffic controller saw

In addition to the many
UFO reports I receive from average observers, I sometimes get reports from
people with above average observing abilities. These include pilots, air
traffic controllers, police, astronomers and military officers.

Debunkers are quick to
point out that even people with better-than-average observing abilities make
mistakes, so just because a pilot reports a UFO is no reason to automatically assume
it’s a spaceship from Neptune. Indeed, UFO databases are chock full of
sightings by police and other good observers who were unable to identify stars,
planets and aircraft, believing them to be UFOs instead.

However, this ignores the
facts that this category of observers is very different from those of most
other UFO witnesses. First, an experienced observer is used to looking at the sky
and making judgment calls about objects that are up there. The difference is best
illustrated by many of the Youtube videos posted by UFO buffs in which a
distant light is caught moving slowly over a city skyline, leading the
videographer to excitedly comment about mysterious orbs, a “scout craft” or
dimensional beings manifesting to motivate the witness to proselytize about
alien contact. An experienced aircraft observer, on the other hand, would not
only know it was an aircraft, but likely be able to discern the type of plane,
its configuration, origin, destination and other characteristics.

So although experienced observers
can and do misinterpret some objects in the sky, the likelihood of their doing
so is much lower than that of the typical layperson. Therefore, if a pilot, who
is used to seeing lights on other aircraft at night, reports seeing a
configuration of lights moving in an unexpected manner or the lights themselves
don’t conform to a pattern he or she has seen before, it’s definitely
noteworthy.

1.12.2 CIRVIS Reports –
Vital Intelligence SightingsCIRVIS reports should be
made immediately upon a vital intelligence sighting of any airborne and ground
objects or activities which appear to be hostile, suspicious, unidentified or
engaged in possible illegal smuggling activity.Examples of events
requiring CIRVIS reports are:

unidentified flying
objects, submarines, or surface warships identified as being non-Canadian or
non-American;

violent explosions;

unexplained or unusual
activity, including the presence of unidentified or suspicious ground parties
in Polar regions, at abandoned airstrips or other remote, sparsely populated
areas.

These reports should be
made to the nearest Canadian or U.S. government FIC or ATC unit.

According to the manual
for flight services, pilots who see UFOs must report them, out of a duty to
protect national security and sovereignty. The fact that there is such a
regulation implies that there is a need to do so, and that such reports are in
fact made.

And they are.

The most recent of these to
catch my attention is a report concerning a sighting on Friday, September 27,
2013, at 2051 hrs local (8:51 pm) approximately four kilometres north of the James
Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It’s a CIRVIS
report filed by an air traffic controller who is also a professional pilot.

This person filled out the
reporting form thoroughly, and it’s easy to get a sense of what had been seen.
The witness was driving on a new freeway that is still not fully completed,
circling north of the airport in an area of the city known as Brooklands or
Centreport.

The witness saw four
orange lights in a V-shaped formation, suggesting an aircraft of some kind, except
that the witness noted there was “no A/C beacon” visible. The objects were at
an estimated altitude of a “couple of thousand feet” and were heading northwest
with the “approx. speed of a ‘single Cessna,’” except that they were not making
any sound. After a short period of observation, the objects “appeared to ‘dissipate’
like going behind cloud” and were lost to sight.

That’s it. The report was
sent to NORAD for filing in its own CIRVIS UFO records.

Analysis? Well, since it
was practically right over a major airport, it would be logical to think it was
an aircraft. Not four aircraft, incidentally, since four planes in tight formation
over a controlled airspace at night with low cloud ceiling seems a bit
unlikely. But one aircraft might be possible. But no beacons or strobes?

The other thing to note is
the estimated altitude. Most people can’t estimate distance well at night. An
air traffic controller usually can, however.

So the choices we have
now, given the available information, are that the object with four lights was
either a conventional aircraft with an odd (and illegal) configuration of
lights, or it was something else. By definition, a UFO.

And I sure hope that this
air traffic controller wasn’t hallucinating, as some debunkers occasionally
suggest. I might be on a plane when he or she is manning the radar screens next
time, and I would prefer that my plane not be a figment of anyone’s
imagination.